Packing

Now what? Is the is the one question burning into my head. The last of my grades were entered about a week ago, and I've passed; no surprise really. BFA diploma to be mailed in February-- or so they say. There has been much contemplation about weather to frame it, or put it in a folder in my closet; these past 5 1/2 years have been a time of great trial and error. What do people really DO with their undergraduate diplomas anyway?

I spent the holidays with my family (as usual) in Minneapolis, and was fortunate enough to tend to my four year old nephew, and 18 month old niece for four days. Their excitement and energy is astounding, and I have no clue how my sister has the patience and motivation with 6-7 hours of sleep each night to keep up with them. I also spent four days in Minneapolis with my brother Terrence and sister in-law, Rochelle. They were fortunate enough to rescue me from the 7:45am pirate (yar) wake-up calls from my nephew. There I was able to meet up with friends, drink some beer, eat some food, went to Big Head Todd at First Ave with some friends, chatted about life, and art. The idea is to keep creating, and putting some sort of creative energy into the universe, but its difficult when reality is about to hit hard and doubts start flooding my mind of, "why didn't I just go into education... be a teacher like I wanted since was eight years old"? No time to look back, I reckon.

I've been at my father's house in St.Cloud, helping take care of his girlfriends puppies who find it amusing to do most of their "duty" in their kennels. Oh well... they've yipped, and now are asleep as I type this. Packing and throwing away the STUFF in my life has been more challenging than I thought; slow and painstaking. A lot of my mornings this week have been spent at the coffee shop down the road from my father's , eating mediocre scones, sipping fairly decent caffeine, and reading up on San Francisco. To be honest, I am more excited to see SF than Brooklyn, only because I think I might find the support and energy I yearn for. Is it true NorCal makes you soft, and NY makes you "hard"?

Thinking thinking thinking, I should stop that, and just realize how amazing my life really is... the friends, the family, the coffee, the Naked Juice... travel plans that never seem to solidify.

The above image is the backpack Terrence and Rochelle recently bought for my birthday AND Christmas gift for the next two years... ;) hehe. Its a green Womens Osprey Waypoint Series 65 (liter). It fits like a dream, and sits on my frame quite naturally. There is "A detachable daypack with a padded front panel and framesheet keep your smaller items safe. The women’s Waypoint packs are sized in small and medium torso lengths with female specific harness and hipbelt." Thanks to the employees at REI in Minneapolis!! I'll be sure to let ya know how it feels with 30lbs in there!